Sharing our stories, big and small.

Three winks

Posted on July 17, 2014

My words are not profound, every photographer, perhaps every Mother feels this way: we take photos to capture the moment so that we can remember. Experiences are fleeting and as our lives continue to fill with more fantastic and ordinary moments everything becomes a jumble, a blur, and it is hard to recall what you had for breakfast much less how you felt as you watched your kid playing on the beach. Everyone loves a nice portrait, everyone smiling, posed and looking at the camera. But it’s the unplanned shot, the little moments, that take me back to that place in an instant. I take photos to fill in the blanks, retell the story and to travel through time.

Our recent family vacation to Kiawah Island, South Carolina was a beautiful trip. Less than a month has passed but those subsequent three weeks, filled with work, swim team, camps and thunderstorms, have taken me far away. So I rely on my photos; these are some of my favorites that take me right back.

Yes, I over-shop for Penny. To reconcile this I take photos to capture these outfits. So with adorable cover-up and sunglasses on we hit the beach in the morning before the bright sun looms and the kids get distracted. Always my unwilling model, she posed facing away from me because that was the way the breeze was blowing. In a brief moment I got her to look at me and snapped. She looks like she is smiling but she’s actually on the verge of complaining that her hair is in her face.

Lucas is always my willing model, for silly shots. After the kids finished building their sand castle I was about to put my camera away when I couldn’t resist this uncluttered view of the ocean. With the perfect backdrop he jumped several times with different poses and expressions. When I look at this photo I remember the two of us giggling as we reviewed each shot.

Another adorable cover-up to capture. She reluctantly posed and gave me several forced smiles. In between those I snapped this, and again, she looks to be smiling but she’s actually quite annoyed with me.

They decided to chase Oliver…

This photo was taken on our last day. The morning started with breakfast smoothies with rum. Needless to say by 6 pm I was laying on my blanket on the precipice of a hangover. Anthony was playing baseball with the kids and Oliver, upset that he didn’t get a turn or something equally unjust, was making his case to me.